Analysis of There is Blood on the Earth
John Boyle O'Reilly 1844 (Dowth) – 1890 (Boston)
THERE is blood on the face of the earth-
It reeks through the years, and is red:
Where Truth was slaughtered at birth,
And the veins of Liberty bled.
Lo! vain is the hand that tries
To cover the crimson stain:
It spreads like a plague, and cries
Like a soul in writhing pain.
It wasteth the planet's flesh;
It calleth on breasts of stone:
God holdeth His wrath in a leash
Till the hearts of men atone.
Blind, like the creatures of time;
Cursed, like all the race,
They answer: '' The blood and crime
Belong to a sect and place! '
What are these things to Heaven—
Races or places of men?
The world through one Christ was forgiven—
Nor question of races then.
The wrong of to-day shall be rued
In a thousand coming years;
The debt must be paid in blood,
The interest, in tears.
Shall none stand up for right
Whom the evil passes by?
But God had the globe in sight,
And hearkens the weak one's cry.
Wherever a principle dies—
Nay, principles never die!
But wherever a ruler lies,
And a people share the lie;
Where right is crushed by force,
And manhood is stricken dead—
There dwelleth the ancient curse,
And the blood on the earth is red!
Scheme | ABAB CDCD XEXE FGFG HIHI BXXX JKJK CKCK XBXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 111101101 11101011 1111011 00111001 1110111 1100101 1110101 1010101 110101 111111 1111001 1011101 1101011 11101 1100101 0110101 1111110 1011011 011111010 1101101 01111111 0010101 0111101 01001 111111 1010101 1110101 0100111 01001001 1100101 10100101 0010101 111111 011101 110101 00110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,132 |
Words | 218 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 141 Views
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"There is Blood on the Earth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22089/there-is-blood-on-the-earth>.
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